OGIS Publishes Two New Ombuds Observers

by Kimberlee N Ried, posted in Customer service, definitions and concepts, FOIA Ombuds Observer, Government information, Guest post, National Archives and Records Administration, OGIS's Reports, Ombudsman, Open Government, Plain Language, Records Management, Uncategorized
Fernando Penalosa and Maria Teresa Inigo at the busy circulation desk. Through the open doors in back of the patrons at the desk is the entrance to the Main Reading Room. The reference desk is to its immediate right. National Archive Identifier 23932427

Today’s blog post was guest written by Dan Levenson.

The Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) recently published two Ombuds Observers on Estimated Dates of Completion (EDCs) and obtaining records from the Intelligence Community.

The first, published on October 30, examines Estimated Dates of Completion (EDC) challenges as symptoms of a larger delay issue.

The 2007 amendments to FOIA require agencies to establish a telephone line or online service that provides requesters with status information, including the date on which the agency originally received the request and “an estimated date on which the agency will complete action on the request.” (5 U.S.C. § 552 (a)(7)(B)(ii)).

Some agencies experience a conflict between FOIA’s EDC requirement and the statutory response time of 20 working days—30 working days when “unusual circumstances” exist. (5 U.S.C. § 552 (a)(4)(A)(viii)(II)(aa)). OGIS has observed that the vision of the law—that agencies can process in a timely fashion and provide an EDC—continues not to be a reality for some agencies. Between fiscal years (FY) 2014 and 2023, the average processing times for simple requests nearly doubled, from 20.5 working days in FY 2014 to 39.4 working days in FY 2023. The number of backlogged requests doubled, from 102,828 in FY 2015 to 206,720 in FY 2022.

OGIS continues to work to address this administrative challenge by helping individuals who seek assistance, frequently reminding agencies of their responsibility to provide EDCs when requested, publishing resources, and holding space for important conversations about EDCs. 

The second Ombuds Observer, published on December 9, highlights how to use FOIA to obtain records from the Intelligence Community (IC), and is designed to serve as a helpful tool for requesters who are seeking records created by the 18 IC organizations across the government.

The IC Observer contains an examination of the differences between a FOIA request and a Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR) request; an overview of what to expect after submitting a FOIA request to an IC agency; and agency-specific information for many IC agencies. This includes: a summary of each agency’s mission, information about what records the agency has, a synopsis of what information the agency already makes publicly available, and links to key pages for the agency.

OGIS publishes Ombuds Observers to address questions and issues frequently seen in our mediation cases and compliance reviews. We hope these two new Observers will be a valuable resource to requesters and aid in ensuring efficiency and transparency in the FOIA process.